Reliance Industrial Investments and Holdings, a unit of billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries, has acquired a 12.7 percent stake in California-based technology firm skyTran.

Reliance Industrial has made a strategic investment into skyTran, with an option to further invest an amount up to $25 million in convertible notes, the company said in a release on Wednesday.

Lets take a look at skyTran's business and what drove Reliance to make an investment in the firm:

skyTran

skyTran is a rapid transit system that runs on magnetic levitation and uses personal rapid transit (PRT) architecture, commonly called pod taxis.

In skyTran's transit system, lightweight two-person vehicles are suspended from elevated magnetic levitation tracks.

Founded in 2011, the company has developed and demonstrated advanced magnetic levitation and propulsion technologies aimed at addressing the extreme global problem of urban and inter-city mobility.

skyTran has partnered with National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the US and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) in Israel.

Source: skyTran website.

skyTran in India

The company has 8 approved patents and 40+ patents pending approval, globally, including in India. Last year skyTran was among the three companies chosen by the government to build pod cars—driverless vehicles that run along a pre-determined route.

Why skyTran

Reliance has made the investment in skyTran with the aim to foster an exclusive partnership in India, where it would work closely with skyTran to develop pilot implementations followed by implementation of its network in India at scale.

Reliance would play an active role in advancing the skyTran solution, especially in telecom (4G/5G/IoT/Giga Fiber), digital platforms and services, advanced materials and electric batteries.

Disclosure: Network18, the parent company of CNBCTV18.com, is controlled by Independent Media Trust, of which Reliance Industries is the sole beneficiary.

Have you signed up for Primo, our daily newsletter? It has all the stories and data on the market, business, economy and tech that you need to know.

First Published:Oct 18, 2018 10:19 AM IST